All the chickens infected by an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza in central Taiwan have been culled, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday, adding that the outbreak did not pose a risk to humans.
According to the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, chickens at a farm in Changhua County’s Fangyuan Township (芳苑) that tested positive for H5N2 were culled on Friday.
The chickens were inspected at a market in Greater Taichung on Feb. 22 and tissue samples were taken from birds at the farm in Fangyuan.
The bureau said epidemiology sampling and clinical investigation would continue to be conducted within a 3km radius of the farm, adding that so far no H5N2 symptoms had been detected in chickens within a 3km radius of the infected sites.
Bureau Deputy Director General Huang Kwo-ching (黃國青) reiterated that pathogenic classifications of “high” or “low” were based on infection levels for poultry, not humans, and urged the public not to panic.
As of yesterday, a total of four chicken farms — three in Changhua County and one in Greater Tainan — have reported outbreaks of the strain, and culling has been performed at these farms to stem the outbreak.
So far, exports of poultry products worth NT$700 million (US$23.76 million) have been banned by trade partners.
Meat is one of the nation’s top poultry exports, with an annual value of between NT$360 million and NT$370 million.
Additional reporting by CNA
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